New Proposal Will Help Illegal Relatives of U.S. Citizens

Obama administration officials announced that they are proposing a fix to a Catch-22 in immigration law that could spare hundreds of thousands of American citizens from prolonged separations from illegal immigrantan alien admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident. Permanent residents are also commonly referred to as immigrants; however, the Immigration and NationalityThe country of a person’s citizenship or country in which the person is deemed a nationalA person owing permanent allegiance to a state. Act (INAThe Act (INA), which, along with other immigration laws, treaties, and conventions of the United States, relates to the immigration, temporary admission, naturalizationThe conferring, by any means, of citizenship upon a person after birth., and removalThe expulsion of an alien from the United States. This expulsion may be based on grounds of inadmissibility or deportability. of aliens.) broadly defines an immigrant as any alien in the United States, except one legally admitted under specific nonimmigrantAn alien who seeks temporary entry to the United States for a specific purpose. The alien must have a permanent residence abroad (for most classes of admission) and qualify for the nonimmigrant classification sought. The nonimmigrant classifications include: foreign government officials, visitors for business and for pleasure, aliens in transit through the United States, treaty traders and investors, students, international representatives, temporary workers and trainees, representatives of foreign information media, exchange visitors, fiance(e)s of U.S. citizens, intracompany transferees, NATO officials, religious workers, and some others. Most nonimmigrants can be accompanied or joined by spouses and unmarried minor (or dependent) children. categories (INAThe Act (INA), which, along with other immigration laws, treaties, and conventions of the United States, relates to the immigration, temporary admission, naturalizationThe conferring, by any means, of citizenship upon a person after birth., and removalThe expulsion of an alien from the United States. This expulsion may be based on grounds of inadmissibility or deportability. of aliens. section 101(a)(15)). An illegal alien who entered the United States without inspection, for example, would be strictly defined as an immigrant under the INAThe Act (INA), which, along with other immigration laws, treaties, and conventions of the United States, relates to the immigration, temporary admission, naturalizationThe conferring, by any means, of citizenship upon a person after birth., and removalThe expulsion of an alien from the United States. This expulsion may be based on grounds of inadmissibility or deportability. of aliens. but is not a permanent resident alien. Lawful permanent residents are legally accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States. They may be issued immigrant visas by the Department of State overseas or adjusted to permanent resident status by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the United States. spouses and children.

Under current procedures, some illegal spouses of United States citizens (USCs) must return to their home countries and file for a I-601 waiver application in order to obtain permanent residency. Approval of the waiver is not guaranteed, and the process itself often requires the relative to remain in their home country for many years. If the waiver is ultimately denied, they could be stuck in their home country for up to 10 years.

The President’s proposal will allow illegal relatives of USC’s to file the I-601 waiver application in the United States instead of having to return to their home country first. Therefore, families can be stay together while the waiver application being processed by the United States CitizenshipThe country in which a person is born (and has not renounced or lost citizenship) or naturalized and to which that person owes allegiance and by which he or she is entitled to be protected. and Immigration Service (USCIS). If the waiver is ultimately denied, then the illegal relative would not be subject to a 10 year bar by having left the United States.

This new proposal is bound to generate controversy in some political circles. However, it is welcome news for thousands of illegal spouses and children of USCs. The proposal itself is not expected to take effect until later this year. Stay tuned to www.bashyamspiro.com for further updates.